


In Another Life

by DroppedAllTheseOreos



Series: Just You, Me, and All These Egg Fics [4]
Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: Alternate Universe of an Alternate Universe, Cis Graphite (Kamen Rider Ex-Aid), Cis Kujou Kiriya, Eggs, Exophilia, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Minor Body Horror, Not Ship focused, Unconventional Birthing Methods, Vomiting, sorta not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:01:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28378887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DroppedAllTheseOreos/pseuds/DroppedAllTheseOreos
Summary: Kiriya finds a strange growth in his chest after his rebirth as a bugster, and quickly figures out that Graphite is the cause of it.
Relationships: Graphite/Kujou Kiriya, Kujou Kiriya & Poppy Pipopapo
Series: Just You, Me, and All These Egg Fics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2078559
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2
Collections: Oreos' Fanfic Gauntlets





	In Another Life

**Author's Note:**

> This goes out to everyone who wanted them to raise a kid. I'm sorry they're not actually raising the kid together in this fic but they will!

Kiriya's partial silence while pretending to work for Masamune was dual purpose. The less he spoke, the less chances he had to give anything away.

But the second, more concerning reason, was that something went wrong with his resurrection. Speaking, breathing, anything that required his respiratory system _hurt._ Hiiro had been unnerved by his sudden change from chatty to stoic, and he even saw the surgeon's eyebrows furrow in what might've been concern, the few times he'd been around to hear Kiriya’s voice crack or go rough from the pain. Being somewhat stubborn as he was, Kiriya only gave in and started to rest his voice in fear of coughing up blood in front of Hiiro or Masamune when the pain got really bad. Kiriya didn't know if he even could bleed anymore, but he didn't want to chance it. And there was one other thing that just put a cherry on the whole situation.

He didn't know what the hell it was, but he could feel a lump in his chest that must've been related to the source of his speaking problems. He had some suspicions it had to do with his and Graphite's... relationship pre-both of them dying. Kiriya had been interested in Bugster anatomy, and apparently, the times he sought out Graphite for answers made him interesting enough in the Bugster's eyes for him to agree to some exploration. Sort of an unspoken, "show me your weaknesses and I'll show you mine" deal between them. Graphite found the prospect of an enemy knowing him more intimately exciting. He saw it as a way to test out his combat skills and find new techniques to cover for any weaknesses he might've revealed in this process, and Kiriya was able to appease some of the burning questions he had about the virus.

And then the sex happened.

In the heat of the moment, it seemed like the logical progression of their relationship, but in hindsight, it was ridiculous. Why either of them lowered their guard enough to get naked with someone who wanted to destroy their entire species was something he'd never understand. And letting Graphite fuck his chest by clipping his dicks into it wasn't entirely out of scientific curiosity like he tried to tell himself. It was more along the lines of a kink he didn't know he had when he discovered that a Bugster clipping into a human felt like gently pushing through the surface tension of water with a pleasant buzz of electricity underscoring it. Kiriya could still remember Graphite's knowing grin all too well when he mentioned he'd been "curious if clipping created the same sensation with every part of a Bugster’s body," with a conspiratorial smile of his own.

Anyway, that was all in the past. Now that he was back with CR, he had all the tools he needed to check himself at his disposal. He was hesitant about going to radiology since he wasn't sure how his new digital body was going to interact with the machines down there, so hopefully, the GameScope could cover his needs. If not, he might have to just go old school medicine and cut it out based on feeling alone.

While he probably should ask someone for help, this wasn't exactly something he wanted to go to anyone for assistance on. Especially after what he did. He knew he was forgiven for actually getting the protogashats and Hyper Muteki back in the end, but it still felt a little awkward to ask for help so soon.

And that's what led to Kiriya lying in the patient bed, GameScope aimed at himself. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to get whatever the object was out now, but he needed to at least confirm, take his mind off worrying about it so he could start crafting some kind of plan for removal because he couldn't live like this. Whatever the thing in his lung was, he could feel it weighing him down whenever he pushed himself too hard. He couldn't afford to let it distract him in a fight.

Kiriya clicked the GameScope on, and it scanned him for a couple of seconds before the holographic screen suddenly appeared, displaying two icons. One for Bakusou Bike, and the other...

Was a Drago Knight icon.

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to process all the possibilities this could've presented. His first thought was that he picked up some kind of video game STI, they were viruses after all. But that didn't entirely make sense since it wasn't just a sore throat, there was definitely _something_ inside his lung. Plus, the clipping "experiment" happened way before either of them "died" and he didn't have any symptoms back then—

"Kiriya?" Poppy's voice shook him from his thoughts.

He shut the device off quickly and sat up, throwing the GameScope around his neck to see her hovering in the doorway, looking concerned.

"Hey, Poppy," He leaned back on his hands, trying to look casual, "What's up?"

She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at him, "What were you up to?"

"Ah you know, just taking a chance to lie down and test this thing out. I never had one before, remember? And I think things are gonna get pretty busy around here soon, so I’ve gotta pick this up asap.”

Poppy didn't look convinced, her cheeks puffing out slightly and her lips pursing as she straightened her posture and crossed her arms, "Sure..." She said suspiciously. After a few more seconds of glaring, she relented, not meeting his eyes when she continued, "Well, I've been looking for you, actually. I wanted to ask for a favor."

"Oh?" He raised his eyebrows interestedly. He always had the impression Poppy wasn't too fond of him with how she always tried to force him out of CR, so this was surprising.

She left the doorway and pulled the chair from its spot at the computer so they wouldn't have to talk from across the room. After some hesitation, she started to recount how she brought Kuroto back by diving into an older version of Mighty Action, then explained her plan to check for patient data by actually going into the protogashats. They talked over the details, and Kiriya started feeling the beginnings of respect for her. She wasn't the total ditz he took her for from the early days of the outbreak, and he guessed the respect was mutual from the way she relaxed into the conversation. By the time they were ready to jump into the protogashat world, he was invested enough in her ideas to shelve the Graphite problem for later.

* * *

The rest of Kiriya's time at CR went like that for a while, just helping out with fights, tasks, and research, feeling a little out of place despite everyone being so welcoming and accepting towards him. And, all the while he tried to examine himself and whatever Graphite had left in him on the side, which was getting worrying. The weight in his chest started _moving._ It wormed its way up somewhere higher in his lungs by the time he, Emu, and Poppy attempted to fight Masamune, throwing him off during the battle as it shifted around.

Now, it moved to somewhere in the bottom half of his throat and that fight had only been a couple days ago. He was more thankful than ever that he didn't need to breathe anymore, otherwise, he'd surely be dead from the fist-sized blockage in his trachea. With Hiiro back on their side, Kiriya considered asking him for help, but that would require explaining at least a little of his "experimentation" with the enemy. Of course, he could make something up, but even if he was trying to hide it, Hiiro was going through a lot right now, and dealing with some part of Drago Knight Hunter, even if he didn't know it came from Graphite, might not be the best for him.

Kiriya couldn't even rest in the patient bed since Nico had gotten infected with Gamedeus, so when he wasn't monitoring her vitals and making sure she was comfortable or doing any of the other little tasks he picked up now that he was really in the fold, he'd taken to lying on the couch. And that's where he was when he felt it shift once again.

His throat constricted painfully around the lump and he fought back a cry. It was getting... well feisty, for lack of a better word, and he wished it would just get out somehow.

The next half hour would make him regret not being more specific, because the growth? Lump? Infection? Thing? The thing hit his throat in a way that made him start dry heaving. He rolled off the couch, falling to the ground and trying to stumble his way over to the trash can, tripping over his own feet and collapsing on the table instead. He sagged against it, breaths coming in and out shakily as he retched and choked on almost every other exhale. He didn't know how long he'd been there before Poppy arrived, but he was vaguely aware of her presence when her voice started floating in and out of his consciousness and he felt light shakes on his shoulder or hands on his back. It was hard to focus on anything else besides the object working its way up his throat and his coughing fits.

When Kiriya had enough sense of mind to think, he tried to calm himself to let the thing pass more easily, but choking feeling riled up some kind of instinct in him, making him thrash uncomfortably against the ground and table. His whole body fighting, struggling to live when it didn't need to. He thought his new Bugster anatomy wouldn't need to worry about air or feel pain in these ways. But it did still feel pain. And for some reason, it still remembered what suffocating was like.

Kiriya could feel it hit the top of his throat, making him gag again. And after a few agonizingly painful coughs and gags, he squeezed his eyes shut, feeling tears leak out. He tried to relax, but his body betrayed him, fists clenching and scrabbling at the table, the rest of him writhing uncomfortably against the edge of it until he finally felt the object scrape by the top of his throat, pushing out into his mouth and against the back of his tongue.

With a muffled, distressed groan, he felt it finally pass and fill his mouth, forcing his tongue down and hitting the backs of his teeth. Now that it was in a place where he had a little more feeling and he wasn't in as much distress, he realized the object felt sort of egg-like. Kiriya tried to force his jaw open further to spit it out or let it pathetically drop to the table, but it had other plans, because he heard a sudden snapping noise, and Poppy tensed next to him as her voice grew shrill with panic by his ear.

His eyes snapped open when more crunching sounds started again and he felt a crack form in the surface against his tongue. He made a panicked noise as the object continued to split open in his mouth until it finally broke apart into pieces and something slid out in a stream of drool, shell, and viscous goo that definitely wasn't from him. He spat and hacked up the rest of it onto the table until his throat and mouth were finally, thankfully clear, the rest of the world slowly came into focus for him.

Kiriya took notice of Poppy's concerned shouts in his ear, making him wince, then he realized how gross he felt. He thought he was supposed to be over feeling gross as a Bugster, but apparently, this whole thing had been so traumatic he was soaked in sweat, and his face was wet from a mixture of tears, snot, and drool. He swallowed comfortably for what felt like the first time in forever, and unsteadily shifted to his feet with Poppy's help. She maneuvered him to sit in one of the chairs at the table, and he finally looked up to see the remains of whatever was in him.

Staring back at him was a weird-looking creature. It was definitely draconic, with dark grey scales that looked a little gold when the light directly hit them, the same color as the pieces of eggshell surrounding it. But the thing that made his blood run cold was the wickedly curved beak— just Graphite's monster form. 

He tried to distract himself from that glaring detail by making other terrifying observations. Like how instead of scales all over, some parts of this new Bugster’s body were bright yellow or black and looked like the armor add-ons his suit got when Drago Knight Hunter was in his level up slot. The gauntlet-like braces around its claws and legs, some plating around its neck and head, and what looked like little car tail fins right above its hips were way too specific to be coincidence. The tail was all segmented made of a plasticky looking material in the shape of vertebrae. Cords that flexed and stretched like tendons were visible between them and through little holes in the tops and bottoms. And its eyes glowed bright blue, just like his bike form's headlights.

The hatchling spread its wings, still covered in goop and spit, then made a little honking noise, something between a toy car and a goose. Kiriya felt lightheaded as he leaned forward onto the table, gingerly burying his face into his arms.

"Kiriya...?" Poppy asked tentatively, "What is this?"

He groaned softly before answering, "It's Graphite's and my kid, I guess."

The baby dragon made another weird beeping noise and he looked up to see it crawling over to one of the shards of eggshell. It sniffed at the piece before taking a huge bite out of it, crunching and munching happily as it decimated the remains of its former home. And as it did, its body started to shift and grow bigger. And it kept growing with each new piece eaten until it went from the size of an open palm to the length of Kiriya's forearm and hand put together.

"Kiriya... What the—" A chipper string of notes came out of Poppy's mouth instead of whatever curse she chose to finish that sentence with and he sighed, burying his face back in his arms as his child decided his head would be a nice place to climb up and use as a lookout.

* * *

They got the table and the baby cleaned up pretty easily despite the baby deciding to crawl all over Kiriya and try to make things difficult. They seemed curious about everything and feisty whenever Poppy tried to touch them. As they worked, Kiriya gave Poppy a rough summary of how he even ended up eggnant (egg pregnant) in the first place, sticking to the major events and his theory as to how it even happened. He'd rather spare her the details and himself the embarrassment of explaining how intimate it got and his sort of lingering fondness for Graphite when said Bugster was currently out killing random humans that happened to pick up Rider Chronicle.

They headed downstairs, kind of aimlessly trying to find a place to talk about this privately, and Kiriya didn't exactly want to stay in the place where he just violently hacked up a Bugster. Said Bugster settled around his shoulders, huddling their body between the back of his neck and the collar of his lab coat. He was reluctant to admit, but they were kinda comforting to have up there.

"Well, we have to tell him!" She exclaimed once he was done with his recap, "Graphite deserves to know."

Kiriya inhaled slowly, breath hissing through his teeth as he grimaced, and the baby fussed around, seemingly sensing his stress, "I don't think that's the best idea," he said as he reached up to calm it down. "Graphite..." he suddenly froze, not knowing what exactly to say. There wasn't anything wrong with telling him, it might even bring Graphite to their side. But the idea of Graphite judging him or not wanting anything to do with him or the kid was suddenly terrifying.

It's not like they were super close. The last time they saw each other, Kiriya kicked Graphite in the chest so hard he went back into his human form, so he shouldn't care that much about what Graphite thought. But the more he tried to convince himself, the more he was finding he cared immensely. "Well, he doesn't know and we didn't intend for this to happen, so why would something he doesn't have much emotional attachment to be able to bring him back?" Kiriya finally decided to say.

Poppy pouted but dropped it altogether. She seemed to understand that it wasn't something she should pry into right now. But her curiosity was obvious, and he could tell she wanted to and was probably planning on getting more out of him later. Kiriya felt grateful for that but also raised his guard a little, to make sure nothing spilled out accidentally.

"So what do we do with them?" She asked, her sour expression softening as she looked at the baby, cooing at them a little.

"Raise them in secret I guess. Figure out if they're gonna grow any bigger or how they'll develop in general," Kiriya shrugged.

Poppy gave him some side-eye, "You don't seem very enthusiastic about all this."

"Sorry I just went through a traumatic incident and I'm not sure what to do here. Also, this kid was a pain in the ass while they were incubating," He looked towards the end of the hall so he wouldn't have to deal with her reaction, "I'm not looking forward to the situation I'm going to have to raise them in either."

Poppy made a few indignant noises, seemingly wanting to tell him off, but torn about how to word it. He knew that even after the crisis was over, things weren't going to be all happy, sunshine and rainbows between humans and Bugsters, and he had no idea if there was a place for something like whatever this kid was. She went silent, seeming to slowly come to that realization herself, and that was the end of it.

* * *

It had been a couple of weeks since the stressful birth of the hatchling, and they didn't seem to be growing any bigger, so Kiriya and Poppy sighed in relief that they most likely wouldn’t have to actually raise a kid in the middle of this crisis. Whatever they already figured out about the kid seemed to be enough to keep them healthy and happy. They seemed to instinctively know that Kiriya was their parent, but it took a while for them to warm up to Poppy. The baby still seemed a little wary of her, but Kiriya assured her it was probably like dealing with any animal, and they needed a while to fully trust someone.

The kid didn't need to eat but seemed to like food well enough if it was brought down every once in a while. They also liked motor oil and other car liquids, since they stayed curled up around Kiriya's shoulders for the whole day, nibbling and licking at his shirt and jacket when he came back from filling the CR emergency scooter and smelling like gasoline. Kiriya honestly didn't know much about how to raise a dragon, especially one like this but Poppy looked into the Genm wiki and asked Emu about some tips about the ones from Drago Knight specifically, and if there was any lore about the Bakusou Bike characters needing food. Her search turned up with "Bakusou Bike racers are all robots, they don't need food," and "Dragons generally eat meat."

But as he got more and more used to coming down to the vents to visit the kid and take them out, Kiriya sort of got more and more attached. The less he thought of it like taking care of a human kid, and more like taking care of a scarily intelligent animal, the easier it got to come to terms with this whole situation.

Since things were going well, Kiriya tried to put any doubt in his mind aside. Though he couldn't help but worry about the inevitable confrontation with the other members of CR about his hidden Bugster. Because they were going to have to find out eventually if Poppy had anything to say about this situation. And weighing even heavier on his mind were thoughts of encountering Graphite again and having to talk about it with him.

* * *

Things were getting dire and Emu, Poppy, and Parad were considering trying to bring Graphite into the fold, they were just trying to figure out how to convince Hiiro, Taiga, and Nico. Kiriya got why. Graphite was vital at this point with the Gamedeus virus, and if Masamune got to him they'd have one less asset to fall back on. And at this point, they needed everyone and anything they could get. The only thing was...

"Kiriya, can I talk to you for a minute?" Poppy pulled him aside from his watch over Nico. He knew this was coming and he was dreading it.

He gave Nico a light nudge on the shoulder, telling her to be good and she weakly waved him off, "Yeah, fine, go ahead and leave me," she said sarcastically, "I'll just lie here and slowly perish," then turned over in bed with a dramatic huff. 

He reached over to ruffle her hair, and she swatted his hands away, shrieking in surprise. Kiriya could only laugh as he got up and she stuck her tongue out at him as he left.

Poppy led them out into the hallway until they got to the end of the hall, where the ventilation grate was. Poppy hopped up and hovered in the air for a moment, pulling the grate off to let the baby dragon scurry out of it, leaping onto Kiriya's head. When she landed, everything was back in place and her expression was serious.

"I think we should tell him about the baby." There was no hesitation in the way she met his eyes.

Kiriya sighed heavily, "What good do you think it'd do?"

"It might convince him to come to our side! It's his child, too!"

"I don't know..." He was about to cross his arms, but the little dragon crawled in, forcing him to cradle them instead.

Poppy stomped her foot, "What do you think you're saving by not telling him?"

"It's more complicated than you think," he glared back at her, "This baby wasn't just born out of us being in a relationship and happy and wanting a family, it was carelessness on my part and out of Graphite's hands on his. We have no idea what his feelings are gonna be on this."

"I'm just saying, what if it works, Kiriya? What if he sees them and wants to be there for them? It's not only for the two of you, but getting him to work with us could help save so many lives," Poppy stepped closer, her frustration blending with something that might've been sympathy, but Kiriya was reading it more as pity in his heated state. She held her hands out, trying to present herself as open, "I want to help as many people as I can. You, Graphite, and the baby are included, but I can't if I don't understand."

Kiriya took a step back and a slow breath in, trying to keep himself calm. "I appreciate that, Poppy, but I don't really know how to explain it myself."

When he opened his eyes again, Poppy's shoulders were slumped forward, and she looked disappointed, but her chest heaved with a deep sigh, and then she straightened her posture. She was beaming proudly at him, "Okay... I'll try and let you sort this out or not. But if it really comes down to it, can you at least try to approach him?"

Kiriya fought to not roll his eyes, looking towards the ceiling and shutting them for a moment, before meeting Poppy with a begrudging look, "Fine, if we're really out of options, I guess it's worth a shot."

Poppy nodded curtly at him, then spun on her heel, heading towards the elevator leading to the main hospital, costume changing into Asuna mid-step. Kiriya sighed heavily, leaning back against the wall when she was out of sight. The hatchling was apparently done with being cradled and scrambled up his chest, leaping off his shoulder to dive back into the vent. He stayed and watched them for a while, confused, and they poked their head out with a similar expression.

"What's up, buddy?" He asked, and they just cocked their head curiously, staring with those glowing blue eyes.

It took him a bit, but he realized the kid probably thought he was leaving since Poppy already did. They never showed up without each other and the visits were usually brief. He felt a little bad for not hanging out with them all that much, but they did run the risk of getting caught if they stayed at the end of the hallway like this.

He held out his arms, "Wanna get out of here for a bit?"

The little dragon blinked at him twice, then leaped back down into his arms. Once they were securely in his grasp, he teleported them away to a nearby park that had been pretty quiet ever since Chronicle started up. Kiriya sat down on one of the swings, letting the kid crawl off him and look around curiously, constantly glancing back towards him for assurance. They got about three meters away from him until they were scrambling back, leaping at him and flapping their wings as they got close so they could land on his shoulders, curling up between his neck and the collar of his jacket like they usually did.

Kiriya looked around to see what spooked them, but there seemed to be nothing around. Maybe it was a bug in the grass. He gently swung them back and forth, trying to soothe the hatchling, and it seemed to work. They crawled down into his shirt, and he flinched as their little claws pricked into his skin. They popped out of the bottom, curling up in his lap and looking at him curiously. His brows furrowed as he stared back.

"You're such a weird kid." He sighed and mustered up a smile for them, "Though I'm not being the greatest parent in the world. I barely even know what I'm doing. Sorry about that."

The dragon beeped up at him and he patted their head, "Your other dad would know what to do with you, I'm sure of it." They nuzzled up into the contact and trilled softly, making him chuckle. "I never told you about him, huh? I should probably do that."

One of their little claws came up to wrap around one of his fingers, and they used it to pull themself up, poking their head between his pointer and middle fingers to look at him curiously. "Alright, um, where to start..." They crawled up his arm while he thought, settling in their favorite place around his neck, letting him use his hand to grab the swing chain again. He laughed nervously, "This is kinda hard, actually. We don't know each other too well."

He shrugged, then kicked off the ground to get them swinging a little higher. "Okay, that's not entirely true. I know him very well on a biological level. I understand how the virus he's made out of, and I guess by extension you, very well, but you probably don’t want to hear about that..." Kiriya suddenly snorted, making the hatchling cling to him, claws digging into his shirt as they flinched.

"I don't know why I'm so nervous about this. His name's Graphite. I don't even know if I told you that." They butted their head up against his jaw as he laughed, "Yeah, I kinda deserved that."

He huffed, "Okay, now we're on track. His name's Graphite, he's a Bugster just like you... Maybe. He wasn't born from an egg, and he came out as a fully formed Bugster. I’m not even sure if you’re fully formed.” He looked down at them with exaggerated suspicion, “You don’t wanna go out and infect people, do you?”

The hatchling just looked up at him with their huge LED eyes, blinking curiously. He continued to regard them for a while, then laughed, “Alright, guess not.” The dragon trilled and wiggled happily.

He chuckled again, just watching them settle in again, but after a while, they started pawing at his cheek. “What, you wanna keep hearing about Graphite?” They wiggled again and he nodded, “Alright. Lemme think.”

“He's from a game called Drago Knight Hunter, which is why you're..." He caught the kid's eye, "Also a dragon, obviously." The hatchling seemed to nod, eyes looking down as they processed the information, then returned their attention to his face.

"He's strong. Physically and emotionally. If there's something he wants he won't hesitate to go out and get it unless he thinks there's a good reason. But he's also smarter than most people seem to think. Like, he's still kind of dense, I guess, but tactically he's one of the smartest people I know. He has a very different way of thinking about things that I appreciate."

Kiriya could feel his chest grow tight and his face grow warm as he thought about Graphite and he threw his feet into the sand beneath the swings, trying to slow them down. The kid clung tightly to him as their momentum suddenly changed. He didn't think he still felt this way about Graphite, but there was no denying how his heart was speeding up and the smile on his face. Jeez, he probably looked like a lovestruck idiot when that wasn't even the case. They weren't in love, they had a mutual understanding, recognizing why they stood on the outskirts of CR and Genm respectively and appreciating each other for that. And provided each other comfort in strange ways during the early days of the virus outbreak, which amplified the stirrings of feelings Kiriya buried down long ago. And while he couldn't deny his attraction, there was no way of knowing if it was actually reciprocated, so he refused to let himself get attached.

Apparently, he failed that.

A little head started bumping up against his cheek, and there were little points of pressure against his neck and shoulders as the hatchling wrapped tighter around him. It took him a while, but he realized this was probably the best attempt at a hug they could give. He swallowed roughly, taking a few deep breaths and using the feeling of the little dragon against him to ground himself.

"Thanks, buddy." He patted them on the head, and they beeped happily. "We should go out and do things like this more often."

They seemed a little skeptical at first. Like they associated coming out here with his distress, but eventually, they looked around again. They climbed up to the top of his head, really scoping out the whole area, then hopped back down to his lap, turning onto their back when they landed, stretching out like a big house cat. From the happy look in their eyes and how content they seemed, all laid out and soaking up the sun, Kiriya figured they decided to agree.

* * *

When Emu, Poppy, and Parad returned from their search with no Graphite in tow, Kiriya knew it was time for him to step up. Poppy's distressed expression fell on him where he was laying across the couch and he gave her a little nod in return. It did nothing to ease her visible anxiousness, so it must've gone really bad.

"I still don't get why you don't want me to come with you," Parad said, his voice bordering on whining, "Graphite trusts me, we've known each other the longest, so I think I have the best shot at getting him to side with us."

Poppy shook her head, "I want to try something with Kiriya and it can't work if you're there. Maybe you can give it another shot if ours doesn't work out, but we just want to use all our options."

Emu shot Kiriya a questioning look, but he just shook his head, then teleported to the hall to collect the hatchling. Poppy met him there a few minutes later and she put a hand on his shoulder. It felt tense, but she was trying to be comforting so he tried to smile and put her at ease, at least a little. With a silent nod, she teleported away, and Kiriya followed closely.

They found Graphite in an abandoned warehouse, different than the one from before, apparently. It was pouring as they landed, so Poppy pulled an umbrella out of nowhere and Kiriya tucked the kid behind his neck, pulling up the collar of his jacket to cover them better, then ducked under the umbrella with Poppy.

Graphite was extremely unhappy to see them, smashing through a wall to escape. Poppy shoved the umbrella into Kiriya's hands and ran after him. The scene that played out in front of him was almost unbelievable as he watched them run and wrestle around in the rain for a while. She finally caught Graphite by the back of his jacket and dragged him back inside to get them all out of the rain. Kiriya was pretty sure the baby didn't need to worry about getting sick and he could've just gone out there to reveal the kid, given they were a virus themself, but if Poppy was considering their health, maybe it wasn't worth the risk.

"So, what do you want?" Graphite snarled, "I already told you, I refuse to work with humans," his eyes narrowed at Kiriya, who swallowed nervously with all the sudden attention.

"Kiriya," Poppy's voice drew his attention, and he tried to smile to ease the worried look off her face.

He shook his head instinctively and looked back to Graphite, "This is probably the worst possible time for this but... You remember before we both died we used to...?"

Graphite's eyes flicked to Poppy, and Kiriya could see her hold up her hands, backing away slowly out of his peripherals. Her shoes clicked against the cement floor until she stopped around the back wall of the warehouse, mostly out of earshot. Graphite stepped in closer and growled low in his throat.

"What about it?"

Kiriya lowered his jacket collar to reveal the baby, and Graphite's eyebrows shot up for a bit, then furrowed, his expression turning into something calculating and conflicted.

"Is one of your, um... pipes an ovipositor? Because I might've accidentally fertilized and hatched an egg you planted in me."

Graphite's hand instinctively reached up for the little dragon and it sniffed curiously at him, reaching out a tiny claw. When it securely grabbed his finger and deemed him safe, it skittered up his arm, and Graphite flinched.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "I don't know how they were born but it must've been painful."

Kiriya barked a laugh, "Yeah, I'll spare you the details, but it sucked," he jerked his head towards the back wall, "Poppy kinda helped out, so that's why she knows about them."

Graphite nodded slightly, and Kiriya just let him hold the kid and process what was happening. The baby beeped and trilled at him, sniffing his clothes and crawling all over. Graphite looked uncomfortable on a few levels, holding completely still, only moving if the kid looked like they'd fall or started biting at his clothes. Kiriya had never seen him like this before. It was like he was worried he'd hurt them with the barest touch. But when he held his hands out, ready to catch the little dragon if they wobbled or gently removed him from biting his ear, there was a fondness and protectiveness he’d never seen before. After wrangling the kid for a while, they tired themself out and curled up around Graphite's neck like they would on Kiriya. When Graphite was sure they wouldn't fall, his eyes ventured back up to Kiriya, who forced a smile and looked away.

"I should probably tell you why we're here... Basically, Poppy thought it might be enough for you to come back to CR with us if you knew about the baby. Honestly, she just wanted you to know, dire situation or not, but given the whole thing with Chronos, you coming with us would be a huge help."

Graphite's brow furrowed, but he wasn't scowling or sneering like usual. Instead, his mouth was slightly parted around the beginning of a sentence, deliberating before he finally spoke.

"I think... the reason you want me to come with you is exactly the reason I shouldn't. Chronos resetting the game set me back, too. All the control over Gamedeus' infection I built up is gone, now, and if I... This is too sudden. I can't be a good parent for them."

Kiriya gave Graphite a once over, taking in the veins of silver and dark grey across his face and down his neck. It was much worse than the last time he saw him and he was right. Graphite would have a hard time forgiving himself for accidentally hurting them if it came down to it.

"What are you gonna do, then?" Kiriya asked softly.

Graphite bent down a little, bowing his head for Kiriya to take the hatchling back. They beeped angrily and clung to Graphite's clothes as Kiriya picked them up. Together they gently untangled the kid and Kiriya held onto the squirming mass of scales, metal, and plasticky armor as best he could, but they obviously wanted to go back to Graphite.

"I don't have much choice, I'm going to go down fighting, whether it's to Chronos or Snipe and Brave."

Kiriya bit his lip, "Are you sure?"

"What other options do I have?"

"The others don't know about the baby," Kiriya said in a rush, catching himself and making sure to breathe so he explained properly. "It's just me and Poppy, so if we bring you both back and explain... They might be more open. I know you have your whole, honor thing, and teaming up is against your morals, too, but you have other responsibilities, now. Even if you don't want them. So you do have a choice to take them or not."

Graphite grimaced, "You don't want them either," he said softly.

"Well, don't be so quick to assume. I've grown sort of attached," Kiriya ducked his head to hide his smile. While Graphite considered how to respond to that, the baby wriggled in Kiriya's hands so strongly he almost dropped them. Graphite's hands shot out and they steadied the little dragon together. With a trill underscored by the sound of a small motor whirring, they curled up on the platform of their joined hands and finally settled down.

"Well, you obviously can't handle them on your own," Graphite let a little smirk creep onto his face.

Kiriya couldn't help but snort, "Me and Poppy were doing fine until I introduced them to you."

Graphite looked at their kid and their hands for a while, finally sighing deeply, "We can try this out. I won't make any promises to play nice with Snipe or Brave, but I'll stay just until Chronicle's over. Plus, you need the help."

Kiriya smirked, ready to deliver a retort when Poppy squealed with delight from a corner of the warehouse.

"You did it!" She cheered.

Of course, she was only pretending to give them space. Kiriya would probably do the same if he was in her position, to be honest. But damn, did it suck to be the receiving end for once.

* * *

Bringing Graphite back to CR went over surprisingly well at first. Parad was all big grins and hovering around him, though he kept shooting Kiriya and Poppy bitter looks. Probably jealous he wasn't the reason Graphite came back, but they weren't entirely the reason, so they just ignored him. Emu was a little tense, trying his best to be neutral, and the worst of everything was Graphite and Kuroto glaring at each other, but that was kind of a given since... well, it was Graphite and Kuroto.

Kiriya was wondering why the other shoe hadn't dropped when Taiga and Nico came barging through the door, announcing they couldn't find Graphite with Hiiro close behind. Oh right, he'd forgotten they rushed out to try and find him, too now that Nico was better.

"Graphite!" Nico yelled the second she noticed him, and all three of them immediately went for their gashats.

Emu leaped to his feet from the desk chair to help Kiriya, Poppy, and Parad form a defensive line in front of Graphite. Just to put a cherry on the whole situation, Director Kagami chose that moment to walk up the stairs with a pastry box in hand, frantically looking between everyone with a wild, panicked look in his eyes.

"Time to finally settle the score!" Nico stomped forward. Oh, she was definitely still pissed about the almost killing Taiga thing. With good reason, but now really wasn't the time.

Before anyone else could make a move, Kiriya's spine arched uncomfortably as he felt the kid clawing at his back where he and Poppy hid them. Suddenly, they were popping out of the neck hole of his aloha shirt. Nico was halfway through another threat when her eyes locked onto the dragon hissing and rumbling tiny engine noises at her. They flung their wings out menacingly, smacking Kiriya in the face as they tried to make themself look more intimidating.

Kiriya caught Poppy out of the corner of his eye and she was grimacing, almost trying to retract into herself. He was feeling pretty much the same when Nico was suddenly up in his space, but her anger from before was replaced with excited baby talk at the dragon and dragging Taiga over to look at them.

"Kiriya! What the hell is this thing?" She exclaimed, "Where'd you get it? You're not hiding a secret companion feature of Chronicle from me, are you?"

"Medical examiner," Hiiro said sternly from a safe distance away, "Explain yourself, now."

Kiriya turned back towards Graphite, who scowled and shrugged one shoulder, trying to seem nonchalant. He sighed, "Um... They're, kinda. Graphite and my kid." CR broke out into a chorus of overlapping shouting and he grimaced as Poppy helped him get everyone settled down and seated.

* * *

After a brief recap about Graphite and the kid that was way too loud and high energy for this topic and Kiriya's feelings towards it, he kind of just let the questions roll over him. Eventually, everyone lost interest in the conversation and started breaking off to do their own things. Despite their initial hostility, Nico and the hatchling seemed to be taking to each other well, and they were letting her poke and pet and even hold them. Poppy joined in and the kid didn't seem too overwhelmed between them.

Graphite seemed like he wanted to take the kid and hide them away with the way he was glaring, so Kiriya just pulled a cream puff out of the Director's pastry box and set it in front of him. His fingers accidentally brushed Graphite's shoulder as he moved his arm back to his side and he held his breath. But the gesture seemed to calm Graphite instead of the flinch he was expecting and he bit down on a little smile.

Hiiro and Taiga were still glaring, and Graphite would send bitter looks back at them. It probably wasn't going to work out between the three of them, and if he were honest, Kiriya expected some big blowout fight the second they didn't need to pretend to be friends anymore. Well, it'd be between them, so nothing he could do. Hopefully, he and the rest of CR would be able to break up any fights that happened while they were still dealing with Masamune. Graphite would glare Kuroto's way, too, who was looking at the baby with disdain. Probably more of that "bootleg game" nonsense he'd been spouting. Kiriya made a note to keep an eye on things between them, too.

But the most surprising thing of all this was the Director's reaction. He seemed... relieved?

"Oi, Director, what's on your mind?" Kiriya called over.

Director Kagami let out a big sigh with his hand pressed to his chest, "Well, now that I know your dragon was living in the vents, I feel much more at ease. I thought we had a rat infestation from all the skittering around they were doing!" He chuckled and took a sip of his coffee, "I was worried about having to temporarily shut down CR until we could get the problem dealt with, since calling the exterminators would be extremely delicate."

Kiriya nodded, "Yeah, secret hospital base and making sure word about it doesn't get out is pretty sensitive," he said dryly.

Haima gave him a single nod and went back to eating his mont blanc, blissfully unaware of, or maybe tactfully ignoring the tension in the room. Kiriya took a few steps back to get a better view of the scene. Despite all the animosity, Graphite felt like he was right where he needed to be. It wasn't like tension between members of CR wasn't anything new, and he just seemed to fit, like he was the missing piece of a puzzle they were trying to solve this whole time.

And when Graphite turned back to look at him exasperatedly when Nico refused to return the hatchling, it stirred up feelings so old in his chest he was surprised they were still around. He smiled back, returning to stand by Graphite's side, thinking maybe having this kid with him wouldn't be so bad.

**Author's Note:**

> The inspiration to give Kiriya and Graphite a zoid hatchling partially came from the last chapter of [SleepySapphire's](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepySapphire/pseuds/SleepySapphire) fic Infection.
> 
> Maybe I'll draw the Bakusou-Drago Knight hatchling one day but it'll probably be a while orz


End file.
